


Gonna be fun

by AndInThoseMoments



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-01-05
Packaged: 2017-11-23 16:51:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/624412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndInThoseMoments/pseuds/AndInThoseMoments
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha and Pepper have been having sex and flirting for months, but when Pepper asks Natasha on a date, she finds that she starts taking more missions.  Eventually, she hunts down Coulson and borrows a comm to find out what's going on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gonna be fun

"Agent Romanoff..." Pepper's voice echoed over the comm, and Natasha could hear the smile to it, knew that her new girlfriend was just enjoying the chance to talk to her, to hear each other's breathing over the device. Because breathing meant they were still alive. It was something to centre yourself on. There was no sound Natasha liked more than that of Pepper's breathing, and Pepper made a lot of sounds that Natasha liked. 

"You are a hard woman to track down." The CEO teased, laughter clear in her voice. She rested against Coulson's desk, one hand pressed to her ear while the other twirled a pen, relaxed and at ease. Coulson was just smiling at her - he knew that technically it was against rules to give a civilian access to comms, but this was Pepper, and he had to deal with this enough from Clint to understand exactly how she felt right now.

"Working." Natasha answered, and her words were punctuated by the sounds of punches, a gasp as she got caught in the side followed by a yelp from the man who had been stupid enough to try and kick her.

"You've been working a lot recently." Pepper answered, and there was seriousness now in her voice, a sense of quiet loss.  
"Been busy. All of us have."  
"I know...Natasha...Romanoff..." Pepper sighed, trying to remind herself that Natasha preferred her surname when she was working. "I know you've been busy. So have I. But I've got your file here, thanks Phil, and you've been asking for more missions. Phil contacted me because he wanted to know what was wrong."  
"Tell Agent Coulson he's a traitor."  
"I heard that Agent Romanoff." Coulson interrupted, sounding amused. Well, amused for him. Anyone who didn't know him would have thought he sounded completely calm and bored like always, but the two women knew better.

Silence fell between the three of them, and Coulson smiled softly at Pepper, mouthing to her "Do it..."  
"I think you're avoiding me." Pepper said calmly, her voice soft, honest, natural. Concerned, but not overly so. "If you're avoiding me because I asked you on a date... then you can say that. We don't have to go. I'd rather you felt comfortable. If you don't want-"  
"I want that." Natasha answered, still not using those words.   
"I'm going to give you girls some privacy." Coulson cut his part of the link, and walked out of the room. Pepper would tell him if Natasha got into trouble in the fight, and they deserved to talk alone here.

"Then...why are you running from me Natasha?" Pepper asked, concerned. They’d slept together before, and spent time together. The sex was amazing, and they ran into each other often enough. Pepper had been the one to want to make it official, wanted to have their relationship acknowledged, and to go out as a couple. She hadn’t expected Natasha to react like this. She had expected more contact from her, not less.

Natasha stared at the unconscious bodies of her opponents, and wondered why the CEO thought that this was a good time to have this conversation. A moment later, everything fitted into place with the realisation that this was exactly the kind of time that Tony would try and have these conversations. Pepper probably thought it was normal.  
"I was working." She answered, finding her coat and replacing it, then cuffing all of the men and waiting for a clean-up team to arrive.

"Do you want a date?"  
Natasha considered for a moment. She didn't do dates, or love, or being someone's girlfriend. She never had. It was childish, foolish, and got in the way of what she should have been doing. Men got jealous and women worried, that was her experience. She didn't waste time on any of them.

She'd always known that romance was a stupid idea, a game that she had no intention of playing. That it might have meant something to people who weren't her, but well, she'd always been herself. The black widow. She didn't cuddle with her mates, she ate them. When other girls had been dressing up for their first dates, she had been seducing men and then shooting them in the head. When other girls had been playing with their dolls, imagining they were princesses and waiting for their prince, she had been learning how to fight with knives and guns and her body. 

Maybe for other girls, dates had been fun. She had learned her own definition of that word, as she had learned to hit a target. It hadn't mattered what the training was, it had always been preceded by the promise of "It's gonna be fun". And it had been. That was why she wasn't sure she could do this. Because it hadn't been meant to be, but it was what she lived for. And she was just normal enough to know that she wasn’t normal.

Despite all that, or maybe because of it, being with Pepper was fun. Natasha had managed to find her way in the company, won a boxing match, hacked robots and spied on Stark. That had all been enjoyable. But then, so was helping Pepper with work. Pepper was CEO of a major company, a woman like her in the world of men. She understood that things weren't always simple, and when she learned of Natasha's identity, rather than being horrified she had been curious. When they had faced down Hammer together, Natasha was sure she hadn't been the only one enjoying herself. If she had needed any confirmation, the evening after had put it beyond all doubt as she had learned the noises Pepper made beyond her breathing.

Seconds slowly ticked by, and Pepper waited for an answer. She tapped the pen in her fingers on the desk, and waited for Natasha to remember how to speak. It wasn't long before she heard her reply.

"Sure. It's gonna be fun."  
"It will be." Pepper answered into the comm. "Now, finish off the bad guys and come home."

Natasha’s lips twisted into a soft smirk.  
“Yes Ma’am.”


End file.
